Zak Dempster the latest signing for Rapha Condor

DEMPSTER RAPHA BOUND FOR 2010Australian Zak Dempster will head to the Rapha Condor team for the 2010 season.

Dempster had planned to ride for the Bulgarian Cycling Club Bourgas team in 2009, but when it folded, moved to Drapac Porsche for the remainder of the season.

An all-rounder, Dempster took top-ten placings in the Tours of Portugal and Turkey this year as well as some strong results in the Belgian semi-Classics and will form part of Rapha’s stage race team for next year.

“We are building on what we have done this year. We will be targeting all the criterium races here in the UK – the Tour Series and the circuit race series,” explained team manager, John Herety.

“Half the team will start off at the Tour of Vaucluse in France in February, while the other half of the team ride the Tour of Taiwan.

“Then we have a fairly heavy early season programme lined up for Kristian House and Dempster of the Tour of Normandy, Circuit of the Ardennes, Tour of the Loire-et-Cher and Tour of Brittany.

“Amongst all that we will be doing all the early races in UK. That only takes us to the end of April, so it is enough to be going on with”.

See next Thursday’s Cycling Weekly for more on Rapha Condor’s 2010 plans.

RALEIGH RETURNS TO THE LITTLE SCREENRaleigh will return to television screens after a break of 12 years with a Christmas adverting campaign featuring the Raleigh ‘Striker’ and ‘Me to You’.

Targeting around three million children, the 30-second commercial will be shown 350 times on the most popular Nickelodeon and Nick Toons channels over a three-week period commencing in the run-up to Christmas.

“It’s great to be back on TV again, promoting our top selling Christmas lines for dealers. Demand for kid’s bikes this year has been amazing and with this extra push, we hope to put Raleigh at the top of Santa’s list for bikes,” said David Moakes, Product Marketing Director at Raleigh.

The Raleigh brand has undergone something of a renaissance recently, with a line of newly-designed bikes and a beefed-up domestic road team gearing up for next season.

To celebrate its re-birth, the iconic Raleigh head badge, upon which will be inscribed ‘Nottingham England’, will front the company’s styling campaign in 2010. The new badge will be used by all Raleigh companies and licensees throughout the world.

LATE-SEASON SPORTIVEIf you’re at a loose end tomorrow and you fancy taking part in late-season sportive- in the name of charity, of course – then the Colomba Chemo Classic in the market town of Richmond.

Run in aid of those suffering from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, the 65-mile ride heads out into the Yorkshire Dales and will be graced with guest appearances from Ben Swift, Geraint Thomas, Ian Stannard and Alex Dowsett.

Late entrants are advised to contact Stuart Watson on 07967442965

See www.colombachemoclassic.org.uk for more

CTC’S WORKPLACE CHALLENGEFollowing successful ‘Workplace Cycle Challenges’ in Swindon, Colchester, Darlington, Somerset, Woking and Wolverhampton, the CTC announced this week that it will be expanding its behavioural change programme to more areas.

The CTC will be working with the Department of Health to deliver £500,000 of workplace challenges to five new locations in the South East of England.

It will also work closely with local Primary Care Trusts and councils to reach the health and environmental goals of getting even more people cycling to work, regardless of what facilities their employers have.

To date, almost 4,000 people have taken part in a CTC workplace cycle challenge and the results speak for themselves: 84% of non-cyclists intend to cycle more after taking part in the challenge.

Half of the participants cycled to work, with many opting for the first time to take a short cycle ride instead of driving. In total 191,498 miles were cycled saving 25,955kg of CO2 emissions.

“It shows the challenge is the first step for many people towards changing the way they travel,” commented CTC Cycling Development Officer, Ian Richardson.

“It offers encouragement and support to make a short journey by bike to work and gives people the opportunity to get back on a bike again for the first time in years.”

The programme is a unique way to help current cyclists to encourage their colleagues to take up cycling. It pits organisations and individual departments against each other to see who can get the most staff to cycle for at least ten minutes during the two or three week challenge.

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